Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 40

Sakura was panting as she jumped from tree to tree. Her accelerated healing allowed her wounds from the battle with Kimimaro to heal, although not completely, and it still did not account for her low chakra levels. She cursed herself harshly, annoyed that she wasn't careful with her limited pool of chakra and irritated about the small amount within it.

She couldn't help but feel concerned for Lee. Kimimaro was a skillful soldier who would die serving the sly snake that was Orochimaru. The former sanin knew how to manipulate people, just as he was manipulating Sasuke into joining him.

She could feel Naruto and Sasuke's chakra and knew that they were fighting. Their chakra signatures were flaring as they traded blows. She had to stop them, she didn't want a repeat of the rooftop incident. However, they were so far and she was travelling slowly to saver her chakra. She would probably have to fight Sasuke and she was not ready for that.

She decided to try and use her words first. She had a way with words... Well, at least, moreso than Naruto. She could maybe persuade him to change his mind about deserting the village and their team. She also wanted to punch him badly but that would only make him hostile so she only imagined beating his stupid face up to curb her anger.

What scared her was how serious the issue of Naruto and Sasuke fighting was. Usually, in spars, there would be an understanding over who had won. In contrast to this, in a real battle, the victor was the one who was alive. Were Sasuke and Naruto fighting to the death? No, she knew Naruto wasn't.

But she couldn't say the same for Sasuke.

When Kakashi learnt of Sasuke's desertion of the Leaf Village, he cursed at himself. He should have stayed and kept an eye on Sasuke instead of trusting him to be on his own.

Now Sakura and Naruto as well as some other ninja from Konoha were on a dangerous mission and he felt responsible. If anything terrible happened to them, he wouldn't forgive himself. He still didn't forgive himself for what happened to Rin and Obito, how would he feel if anything happened to his precious genin?

With permission from the Godaime, he sped off to save his team.

As Sakura was running through the forest, she felt her skin starting to boil. It felt different compared to how it usually felt. After a couple of seconds, it started to hurt, increasing in pressure continuously.

She buckled her feet, her foot had hit a branch and she fell to the ground, landing roughly on her back. She felt the wind knock out of her and she began to cough harshly. Her body was hurting from the boiling and the fall she had just been through. She couldn't move for a bit, feeling too much pain in her back.

Kokuo-chan, what are you doing?! She asked but she heard no response. Kokuo-chan?!

"Sakura-chan!" The boiling suddenly stopped and the cherry blossom began to pant heavily. She didn't expect any of this to happen.

What is that? What were you doing?

"That was my fault, I'm am so sorry. It's sometimes hard to control things in here."

Alright. Just... That's never happened before.

Sakura stood after a while, shaking herself off and deciding to travel on the ground for the rest of the way. She may have been being stupidly irrational but she was scared she would fall again, and from such a height, she didn't want to risk it.

She was close now, not much longer and she would make it to the Final Valley. Not much longer until her face off with Sasuke.

"Neji-san!" Ino exclaimed, seeing him make it to the gates. However, her eyes widened in horror once she saw Hinata - beaten bloody - in his arms. "What happened?" She asked as her hand moved to her mouth in shock.

Some of the gate-keepers took Hinata from him and ran to the hospital. "The four-armed one... She protected me and got hurt." His face contorted with anger. "It's my fault!" He suddenly exploded, turning away from the Yamanaka. "The arrow was meant for me! It should have hit me!" The genius didn't realise it but tears began to fall down his cheeks, pouring out as fast as a waterfall. The realisation of his tears came when he began to sniff aggressively.

Silently, Ino wrapped her arms around him and he accepted the comfort. "Chouji got hurt too, I should have helped him." When she pulled back, she looked at him with fierce eyes. "There isn't much I can do here so I'm going back. The others might need help."

"Do you have permission from Godaime-sama?" Neji asked and she nodded her head. "I'll go too."

The two set off, retracing their steps and hoping to find the others.

They're right in front of me! Sakura thought, relieved when she saw Sasuke's form. Her eyes searched for Naruto, but then she felt his horrifyingly low chakra signature and saw his body floating in the water.

"Naruto-kun..." She whispered. The Uchiha, having sensed her, looked right into her eyes. The pinkette could see a haunted look in his eyes and he turned back to Naruto and took a step back. She felt mad, filled to the brim with sheer anger, once she saw his Curse Mark activated. He used that against his friend, and now Naruto was hurt.

Sakura began to run to him , hoping to heal him. But she felt his chakra flare for a second before his body erupted into red chakra.

"Kurama!" Kokuo exclaimed as the blonde began to stand, the Kyubi's eyes taking over his. His nails grew and two giant, red eyes appeared above him in the red chakra.

Sasuke looked petrified at his teammate's chakra, covering his face to protect him from the ferocious winds. "What are you?!" He yelled.

"I'm your friend!" Naruto replied, tears in his eyes. Sakura realised that this was different. Naruto wasn't only using the Nine-Tails' chakra like she had, but there was something more to it that she couldn't quite put her finger on. The red chakra cloaked over the Uzumaki's body, a tail swaying beside him. "And that's why I can't let you go to Orochimaru."

A tail? He has a tail? Sakura thought, majorly confused.

"It's the Bijuu Cloak." Kokuo told her host. "He's a lot more powerful now, and Kurama's influence is greater."

Sakura flinched once she felt Sasuke's new, foreign chakra. His skin turned dark grey and his hair turned dark blue, growing down to his waist. A dark star-shaped mark appeared on the bridge of his nose. "I'm breaking this bond!" He yelled at Naruto.

What are they doing? They'll kill each other! Sakura ran forward to stop them but they charged at each other. Their clash created a fierce gust of wind that blew her backwards. After composing herself, she reached for Kokuo's chakra but she felt it begin to hurt again. Why is your chakra hurting me all of a sudden?

"I- I don't know." She didn't have time to think about the situation with Kokuo because her friends were fighting in these dangerously powerful forms.

She watched in horror as two wings were produced out of Sasuke's back, knocking Naruto away from him. "Stop it!" She yelled but, just like how it happened on the roof, they didn't listen.

Sakura felt scared. She didn't know the Curse Mark could do this. She was worried about all of their friends, how were they faring up to these monstrous forms? How was Lee, Ino, Hinata - how were they all doing? Were they all okay?

Using his wings, the Uchiha produced a large gust of wind to attack his one-tailed opponent. The Kyubi's host dodged quickly but the attack was then hurdling for Sakura. She jumped up onto the First Hokage's head to avoid it.

As the battle raged on, Sakura grew increasingly worried. When would it end? How could she stop it? There wasn't much she could do. They were serious when fighting each other, it reminded her so much of their previous fight on the roof. They even charged up their signature attacks again.

I have to do something! She thought, watching Naruto power up a red Rasengan and Sasuke begin to conjure a black Chidori.

"Sakura-chan, you can't. This is different, their chakra-"

I can't just stand here and do nothing!

The pinkette jumped off of Hashirama's head just as Naruto and Sasuke charged at each other with the Rasengan and Chidori in their respective hands. She infused the last of her chakra into her fist.

All three met in the middle of the Finally Valley - Sasuke on the left, Naruto on the right and Sakura from above - in an explosive collision of attacks. A black sphere of chaotic energy was created, electricity crackled throughout the air and the ground started to crack.

"Sakura-chan, your arm!" Kokuo cried, worry evident in her voice. The cherry blossom felt excruciating pain in her arm. Furthermore, she felt her chakra start to fizzle away, she was almost completely out. Kokuo couldn't lend her any chakra as it would hurt so there was nothing she could do.

Then she felt it. A sort of dormant power within her, a foreign type of chakra that she had never felt before, yet somehow there was a familiar feel to it. Sakura was desperate for chakra so she infused it into her fist, giving her attack a boost. It was strange how powerful she felt.

Suddenly, their attacks disappeared and the black sphere faded. Naruto and Sasuke were forced down to the ground from the force of Sakura's attack and she fell after, landing inbetween them.

The boys were still conscious but the Uchiha's Curse Mark faded away and the Uzumaki's Nine-Tails cloak evaporated.

As they stood, they watched their female teammate shake violently. Her arm was blackened and she had an almost psychotic look in her eye. They watched with curiosity and confusion as the black part of her arm spread to her throat.

Sakura hunched over and vomitted. The substance that came out was black and began to move on its own, away from her. Her vision began to blur but she was sure it was moving.

Naruto and Sasuke watched in shocked silence as the black puddle began to rise, making the figure of a girl. The girl looked similar to Sakura and was grey.

"Ah!" The Grey Sakura breathed. She looked at her hands, then her surroundings and then her hands again. "I- I'm free!" She exclaimed, laughing joyously.

Sakura looked at the grey version of herself - who was looking at her own hands in astonishment. She then turned to Team Seven and stopped laughing. Despite this, she still seemed amused.

"I believe you have questions." She said, letting out a small chuckle after.

"...What are you?" The original Sakura whispered. "You... You're-"

"Inner?" The Grey Sakura cut her off. "Yes, I guess that's what you could call me, Outer." She looked at Naruto and Sasuke, who both looked like they were about to attack her. "And you never thought about who Inner is, did you? Who I am?"

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, his hand twitching.

"Power." Inner replied, appearing right behind him. Her hand lashed out at him, sending him flying into Naruto. They both went flying across to the other side of the valley.

Outer Sakura jumped up quickly and her body was surrounded with red chakra provided by Kokuo. "I don't know what you are, but I'm taking you down now!"

"I can do that too!" Inner shouted, her body erupting with purple chakra. The two Sakuras clashed in the middle, throwing punch after punch. When Outer thought to punch Inner on the cheek, Inner did it first. When Outer formed a red chakra scalpal, Inner formed a purple one before her. When Outer thought to use her fireball jutsu, Inner was already using her own - producing a black fireball against Outer's blue one.

It was then when the original Sakura discovered something startling. This copy of her was stronger than her. This fake was beating her and she didn't know who she was, what she wanted or how to beat her.

Inner punched Outer away but the latter rebounded off the ground, charging her fist with red chakra. Naruto readied his Rasengan and Sasuke powered up his Chidori. They attacked Inner from different directions.

The copy screamed and wind pushed the members of Team Seven backwards. She appeared above Sasuke and punched him to the ground, cracking the earth and knocking him out. She then ran behind Naruto and hit him on the back of his neck, rendering him unconscious. And finally, she walked up to her original, who was trying to get herself up off the ground.

"We'll meet again, Outer. Don't worry." Her hand glowed black and she tapped Outer's head, putting her to sleep. The last thing Sakura saw was the retreating form of her own back.

All the members of Team Seven were unconscious. Kakashi arrived on the scene and used his ninken to to carry his three genin home, relieved that their were still three of them. He only thought that they had fought each other until they passed out. He didn't know the repercussions that this battle would have on all of their lives.